DMP4NFDI - A Central Service for Data/Software Management Plans

Abstract

Data management plans (DMPs) and software management plans (SMPs) are central elements in research data management. In the summer of 2024, the core service DMP4NFDI was launched to specifically address these topics for the consortia of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). The DMP4NFDI core service establishes a central infrastructure for DMPs and SMPs within the NFDI. Its primary goal is to support the NFDI consortia in developing and providing standardized DMP services. The design of the core service is based on insights from the NFDI working group infra-dmp, which is part of the NFDI Common Infrastructures section. This working group promotes inter-consortia exchange on the use and further development of DMPs and, among other contributions, developed a vision for DMPs that identified specific requirements for the core service. In the initial phase, the service is developing the NFDI DMP Template Framework in collaboration with pilot consortia. This framework aligns with the de facto standard for machine-actionable DMPs and is intended to facilitate the creation of interoperable and standardized templates. As its technical foundation, a multi-tenant RDMO instance is used, providing the NFDI consortia with their own customizable RDMO tenants while allowing them to benefit from a central infrastructure. The multi-tenant RDMO instance ensures the autonomy and flexibility of individual consortia in delivering efficient and interoperable DMP services, while also enabling cross-consortia collaboration on the templates. In addition, the service offers support through regular support meetings (Jour Fixes) and conducts workshops to gather feedback from both the consortia and the broader research data management community. In this way, a comprehensive training and support program is being developed, focusing on imparting fundamental knowledge of catalog development, didactic skills for training, and best practices for working with RDMO. Close collaboration with the pilot consortia also enables the early identification and resolution of potential issues as well as timely adjustments in approach. The experiences and insights from these pilot projects form the basis for scaling the service to include further consortia and core services in subsequent project phases. In the next project phase—the integration phase—it is planned to provide additional pilot consortia with RDMO tenants, to expand and adapt the training and support concept as well as the template framework for DMPs and SMPs, and to closely support consortia, particularly during the resource-intensive initial phase of template development. This poster presents the development of the core service to date, initial implementation results, and the interplay between the technical and content-related components, illustrating the interconnections among the various core areas.